When I was a young singer I went to a lot of jam sessions. Jams are great for meeting other musicians, learning how to improvise, and how to communicate with other players. I learned a lot this way, but there was one jam session in particular where I learned something unexpected.

My classical piano studies taught me a lot about technique and reading music, but in jazz and pop styles, you improvise over chord changes. That terrified me. How do you just… improvise? I didn’t know how to make the transition.